A Rose by Any Other Idiot
by okmeamithinknow
Summary: Spending the remaining hours of Valentine's Day in the emergency room, the proverbial icing atop her crappy day, was not how Lucy Heartfilia imagined the day ending, but fate, and her lovable idiot of a boyfriend, apparently had other plans for her.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Pairing: Nalu

Writing Prompt: _"It would have been a lot more romantic if you de-thorned the rose before you put it in your mouth…"_

* * *

"It would have been a lot more romantic if you de-thorned the rose before you put it in your mouth…"

The blonde woman sighed. Eyes followed the doctor as she left the room, shutting the door behind her with an audible click. She turned then to face the room's other occupant. Her eyes glimmered with affection as she gazed at her pink haired boyfriend, who was ransacking the tongue depressors in the small room in the wake of the doctor's departure, stuffing a couple into her purse when he thought she wasn't looking. The affection turned to irritation and she felt her eye twitch.

"Natsu!" she scolded. "Leave those alone!"

Pressing a hand to her face to stave off the impending headache, Lucy reflected on the miserable circumstances that landed her and her boyfriend in the emergency room on what was supposed to be the most romantic day of the year.

Valentine's Day this year should have been perfect. After years of unresolved sexual tension and mutual pining, she and her best friend and long time crush had finally admitted their feelings for one another at their friend Cana's annual New Years rager last month. It had been the best month and a half of Lucy's twenty five years, blissfully in love with her best friend who never ceased to bring a smile to her face with his goofy antics, and this year would hopefully be the first of many Valentine's Days to come that the two would spend together.

The fact that Valentine's Day fell on a Friday made everything that much better; a whole weekend with nothing to do besides spend it with her best friend. She didn't know what Natsu planned for the two of them, but he promised that it would be a night that she wouldn't forget. Lucy wasn't worried, knowing whatever the evening's adventures entailed; it would be more fun together.

Yes, Valentine's Day had all the makings of being the perfect day, but this year sucked, like sucked on a scale that the scientific community would never be able to refute, and spending the remaining hours of Valentine's Day in the emergency room, the proverbial icing atop her crappy day, was not how Lucy Heartfilia imagined the day ending, but fate, and her lovable idiot of a boyfriend, apparently had other plans for her.

* * *

The commute to work had been deceptively easy and looking back Lucy would definitely blame the perfection that was that morning's traffic on lulling her into a false sense of security. From there, however, the rest of the day sped like a freight train down a steep incline, straight downhill and Lucy would swear that someone greased the tracks.

Work had been a nightmare, a klutzy, accident-filled nightmare, and the only person Lucy could blame was herself.

Five minutes into the workday, she spilled her red velvet latte, the one that had been just this shy of scalding, all over her brand new pink sweater. She bought it specifically because it matched Natsu's hair, and then, covered in coffee that would be sure to leave a giant stain in the middle, her only option was to scrounge around the office's lost and found for something that would fit. The only thing left in the bin was a shirt two sizes too big in the vilest shade of green. Not that Lucy minded the color, but it clashed horribly with the red skirt she picked out that morning. Normally Lucy wouldn't dare mix red and pink together, but hey, it was Valentine's Day and she could afford to break her own silly fashion rules for her favorite holiday. But combined with the green shirt, she looked like one of the rejects from Santa's workshop.

A comment her editor and best friend couldn't help but point out when Lucy ran in for their morning meeting ten minutes late and sweating buckets from the rush to swap out her soiled clothing in the unisex bathroom down the hall. It also hadn't helped that she clipped her elbow on the handicap rail as she struggled to shuck the damp clothing off herself. The meeting passed without incident and when Lucy returned to her desk, she figured that the worst was behind her.

 _How wrong she was._

The rest of the morning was spent wrestling with computer issues. Either someone in the IT department hated her, or she'd accidentally downloaded a virus doing research for an article. Regardless of the cause, her computer outright refused to cooperate with her wishes for the better part of two hours. When it finally decided to work, Lucy nearly cried in relief.

By the time lunchtime hit, she was more than ready to take a break. So when the girls from the office stopped by to grab her for lunch she closed the open word document, clicking the wrong button in her distracted rush, and she realized too late that she'd yet to save the file she'd been working on for most of the morning and lost everything she'd written that day. Her forehead met the top of her desk at an alarming rate, and though the action had been intentional, she'd been a bit zealous in the force she put behind it. The red mark the impact left wouldn't fade for another hour, leaving her to suffer the indignity through her lunch break.

The small Italian Asian infusion restaurant, Raijinshū, the girls picked earlier in the week changed their menu recently and pulled her favorite chicken caprese from the menu. When Lucy inquired if they could please-please-please-she-was-having-such-a-bad-day-and-they-would-make-it-infinitely-better-if-they-could-make-this-one-exception-to-the-strict-no special-requests-rule, the waitress, a stony eyed brunette, rolled her eyes so forcefully that Lucy was convinced that the only reason they didn't fall out of head was the glasses atop her nose. Lucy shot her a hopeful look, but the waitress dashed those hopes with a flick of her manicured nails, citing the recent mozzarella shortage as the cause. Who knew Magnolia was facing a cheese crisis of epic proportions?

Forced to endure a caprese-less lunch, Lucy opted for a small salad instead, but after the let down of not being able to enjoy her favorite dish, nothing seemed satisfactory. She spent most of lunch picking at the salad and catching up with the girls from the office.

Shortly after their food arrived, Levy, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet through most of lunch, pulled a small picture from her purse and handed it to Lucy. It took Lucy a brief moment to realize what she was looking at. The tiny blob in the middle of the grainy black and white photograph looked more like a jellybean than a baby. The screaming and squealing that followed deafened most of the restaurant. Lucy couldn't hold back her tears when Levy asked her if she'd be willing to be the baby's godmother, but even filled to the brim with excitement for her best friend and her prickly husband, Lucy couldn't help feeling the twinge of jealousy.

Lucy spent the walk back to work texting Natsu, catching him up on her awful day and filling him in with the news about Levy and Gajeel's impending arrival. News he apparently knew before she did, as his metal studded cousin told him days before.

The clouds that loomed in the sky on the walk to Raijinshū, opened up, dumping buckets of rain onto the city. The smell of exhaust and filthy streets permeated the air, and the rain only amplified the stench. Lucy had to run to make it back to the office without getting completely soaked. Less than a block from the building, her heel broke, and she nearly stumbled face first into the street. Only a last minute swerve into an ankle deep puddle kept her from running straight into oncoming traffic. One shoe soaked through, the other broken, Lucy limped the rest of the way back to the office.

Not even the dozen roses she found on her desk when she returned from lunch could make up for the disappointment the day had been so far. The smell of the soft petals cut through the remaining scent of city streets. The yellow petals faded to a blushing pink. Fingering the nearest bud, she snatched up the card.

 _I know pink is your favorite, but yellow always reminds me of you, 'cause you're the light of my life. Can't wait to see you tonight!_

 _Love, Natsu_

Lucy pressed the card to her chest and blushed. Ok, maybe she didn't need to be as jealous of Levy's life. Even if she and Natsu had been dating for such a short time, they'd been best friends for almost eight years now and she knew in her heart that without a doubt Natsu was "the one".

He'd been there when her mom passed away from cancer their junior year of high school, sneaking in her room through the second story window for a whole month after her passing to hold her while she cried and make sure she was ok. The arrangement probably would have gone on longer and not come to an awkward halt if Lucy's father hadn't walked in on them one Saturday morning to find the two fully clothed, but intertwined underneath the blankets after Natsu had fallen asleep. Her father removed the trellis beneath her window, Natsu's means to climb into her room unnoticed, and grounded her until further notice. However it didn't keep the two apart for long. Her father's work started sending him on cross-country business trips and the two managed to hold impromptu sleepovers on the down low.

Lucy repaid the favor, a few years later just after they graduated from college, when Natsu's foster father was murdered in their hometown. At the time she'd been prepping for a big interview for a major newspaper, but when she answered Natsu's call and heard the shattered sobbing from the man who never cried in front of her, not even when their friend Gray gave him a black eye and broke his nose, on the other end of the phone, she dropped everything to be with him.

Work beckoned her back to reality. Lucy kicked off both of her shoes, tossing them into the trash bin next to her desk. She slipped on the old comfortable pair of ballet flats she kept under her desk for such occasions as today. Lucy pulled her blonde hair into a quick messy bun and hunkered down to finish writing and researching for the rest of her day.

She planned on leaving early so that she could squeeze in a shower before meeting up with Natsu at his apartment, but the senior editor demanded some last minute changes to the article she'd been slaving over for the last few months. So much for washing her hair.

Just when she thought she'd be able to make it out the office, with minutes to spare, Juvia, the office secretary, barged into her cubicle, hysterical about a tear in the sleeve of her teal blouse. She sobbed about picking out the outfit for her first date with some mystery man, one she'd been sighing over for ages, and now she couldn't find a needle and thread to fix it. It took too long for Lucy to find her emergency sewing kit buried in the depths of the deepest drawer of her desk, but the rush of thanks and praise from Juvia had been worth it.

Finally, a grand total of eighteen minutes before the end of her normal workday, Lucy pulled out of the company parking lot and into traffic. Praying to the traffic gods for clear roads, she weaved in and out of traffic, speeding through yellow lights and taking back roads to avoid the worst of the rush hour congestion. Fortune must have been on her side then, because the commute took no longer than her usual one.

By now her entire pre-date prep plan had flown right out the window. As she fished the keys to her apartment from her purse, Lucy ran through a mental list of possible outfits to replace the one she'd ruined with her latte. She hoped Natsu would be ok with her wearing her hair in a messy bun, because there was no way she'd be able to straighten her hair and be on time. She fitted the key into the lock and stepped into her apartment.

She froze on the threshold, confusion marring her features as she drank in the sight before her. Natsu must have used his spare key to decorate the apartment after she left for work this morning. Tall-pillared candles lined the hallway, and on every available surface there were what had to be hundreds of tea lights, illuminating the room with a soft ethereal glow. He'd even pulled out a ladder to hang fairy lights from the ceiling. Rose petals scattered across the entryway and down the hall in the same pink and yellow combination of the roses he bought her earlier that day. At random intervals along the middle of the hall there sat single roses with cards attached to them. They were numbered and appeared to pass the kitchen, down the hall, and towards her bedroom.

She shucked her coat and kicked off her shoes eager to explore more of the house to see what Natsu was up to this evening. After hanging her coat in the closet, Lucy deposited her keys into the bowl on the small table. The first card sat next to the bowl.

 _Luce,_

 _We've been best friends for eight years, and I've loved you all that time. I knew I loved you the first time I saw you. You were chewing out Gray for stripping out of his shirt in the middle of gym class and I remember thinking, "Damn that girl is hot when she's flustered."_

Pink tinged her cheeks as Lucy blushed at the memory. She'd been so nervous her first day at a new school. She hadn't meant to make a bad impression but seeing a random guy shedding his shirt in the middle of gym class had sent her over the edge. Natsu had been rolling on the floor laughing at the end of the exchange. Padding down the hallway, she stopped in front of the next rose.

 _I knew I loved you when you mumbled my name in your sleep the first time I spent the night after your mom passed._

If Lucy's cheeks had been pink before, they glowed a bright scarlet then. She knew she was prone to talking in her sleep, but Natsu never told her about this.

The card on the next rose read:

 _When we were eighteen and you asked me to help babysit Asuka, I knew any guy would be lucky to have you be the mother of his children._

She blinked back sudden tears that formed in her eyes. They hadn't talked about their future yet, at least not since they'd become a couple, but Natsu knew that it was a dream of hers to one day become a mom.

The next note was a surprise.

 _When you let me baby you, the year of the great stomach flu epidemic, even though you insisted I would get sick, that you would trust me enough to let me see you sick and miserable and at your absolute worst, I knew I loved you._

Natsu refused to give into her vehement protests when she'd come down the stomach flu several years ago. Not that she'd been strong enough to argue when he first arrived to find her sprawled across her bathroom floor in a pathetic puddle of misery and self-pity. But she hadn't wanted to infect him as well and when she'd gained some of her strength back, she insisted that she would be fine without him. He ended up staying the rest of the week, cleaning up after her and catering to her every need.

Card number five was just as unexpected as the last and she stuffed a fist into her mouth to keep from laughing too hard at it.

 _The year you caught your asshole ex-boyfriend cheating on you in the middle of a club and wouldn't let me kick his ass for you, I knew I loved you. Especially after watching you give him one of your infamous 'Lucy Kicks' to the junk. You have no idea how fired up that made me. ;)_

That was not one of her finest moments, but to read how much Natsu appreciated the fact that she'd taken care of the problem herself warmed her heart.

 _The week we spent cramming for my S-Class exam so that I could move up a rank at the firehouse, even though you had an article due the next week, I couldn't believe this perfect self-sacrificing woman was my best friend._

She crept closer and closer to her bedroom door. Just two notes left and Lucy had no idea what they would say, but regardless the morning's mishaps were more than made up for.

Note number seven reduced her to tears almost immediately.

 _I knew I loved you when Dad died and the first person I called was you because out of everyone in the world it was you that I needed the most._

She paused in front of the last note. It lay in front of the door to her bedroom. The door was open a crack and soft violins poured from the interior.

 _I knew I loved you because I've never met a more caring, passionate person and I'm so glad to call you not just my girlfriend, but my best friend and partner._

Unashamed tears flowed down her cheeks then. Finally, she pushed open the door. It creaked, as it swung wide to reveal even more candles adorning the interior. On the bed, Natsu sprawled across the duvet, a single rose clutched between his teeth. He leaned on one arm, one knee bent to support him as he rested on his side. Lucy hadn't exactly been quiet when she got home, so he must have heard her come in. The black button down shirt, unfastened to reveal the simple white t-shirt underneath, was new.

"You," She gave him a watery chuckle as he raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Lucy swiped the last of her tears from her face with the palm of her free hand. "You are the biggest dork I have ever met in my life."

Natsu mumbled a reply, but it was garbled through the stem of the rose. Lucy stepped into the room fully and walked over to the bed.

"But that's ok cause I love you too you big dork."

Natsu smiled, and then immediately regretted the action as he felt a sharp pain in the corner of mouth. Hissing he ripped the flower from his lips, but that was the absolute worst possible choice he could have made at that point. Pain exploded in his mouth as the thorn, the source of the trouble, dug into the flesh of interior of his cheek and tore a massive gash.

"Fuck! Oh fuck! Shit shit shit!" he exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and clutching his cheek. He hopped up and down for a moment before rushing to the adjacent bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

"Natsu?" Lucy followed behind him; careful to avoid the trail of blood he left in his wake. She turned the knob to find it locked. Her timid knock accompanied her shaking voice. "Natsu, are you ok?"

"Just give me, ow, a minute."

The door muffled his voice, but Lucy could hear the pain behind it. Lucy waited, knowing that Natsu would let her in if he needed help. He knew where the first aid kit was in her apartment. After all he was the one who kept it stocked with antiseptics and bandages when he and Gray inevitably came to blows, which seemed to be a weekly occurrence. She pressed an ear to the door, listening to the streak of curses that poured from his lips. Minutes passed and Lucy grew more anxious as more time passed with no sign of change from Natsu. Nausea starting to get the better of her, she was about ready to break down the door with one of her Lucy kicks, when he finally spoke to her from behind the locked door.

"Uh Luce," Natsu began, "Don't panic, but…" he paused and the hesitation and alarm in his voice caused her pulse to skyrocket.

"But what!?" Lucy demanded.

The door opened and a blood stained Natsu appeared, holding a gauze pad to his cheek. The front of his shirt was coated with blood, and she cast a glance behind him to see her bathroom resembling a crime scene.

"I think," he stated, wincing as the action pulled at his injury. "I think I'm gonna need stitches."

"What!?" she screeched, forgetting her proximity to his ear and he flinched.

He lowered his hand to give her a look and Lucy stood on her tiptoes to see the wound. Sure enough, the laceration, which bled sluggishly, was much too long and deep to be covered by a band-aid. Another droplet of blood dripped off his chin adding to the collection of stains already dotting the shirt and it spurred Lucy to action. Dashing through the hall, she blew out all of the candles Natsu had painstakingly lit, slipped back into her shoes, and grabbed her things to drive him to the emergency room. Lucy insisted on driving, just in case, even though they knew Natsu's motion sickness only abated when he was the one behind the wheel.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled from the passenger seat where he clutched his stomach with one hand and his cheek with the other. "I ruined your Valentine's Day."

"Stop talking, you idiot. You'll make the bleeding worse," Lucy scolded as she pulled into the parking lot. "I've had worse."

"You have not," he muttered under his breath, afraid that Lucy would be angry with him.

"Yes I have. What about the time that you knocked me into Erza's strawberry cake when we all went out together three years ago?" she reminded him gently, putting the car into park. "I still have nightmares from that one and I don't think she's forgiven me yet."

Natsu gave a dark chuckle that turned into a groan as his stomach gave one last lurch before settling down.

Two hours, four stitches, and several hundred dollars later, the pair found themselves discharged from the hospital, along with a stern warning against any vigorous activities, including kissing. The doctor prescribed a slew of medications; painkillers, antibiotics, you name it. She'd also advised them to keep an eye for any signs of infection and warned that the meds might make him a bit loopy. Lucy swore not to leave his side for the remainder of the weekend, fearing the pink haired doctor's wrath if any more harm befell the man. By the time they found themselves headed for home the only place to pick up said medications was the only twenty-four hour pharmacy in the city, one that lay all the way across town. Both of them were exhausted by the time the pharmacist filled Natsu's prescriptions and not even the toy aisle in the small shop tempted him to stay longer than necessary.

Natsu's face still felt numb from where the doctors had injected a local anesthetic and he kept poking it to see if it had worn off yet. Lucy rolled her eyes and placed a hand on his unmarred cheek. Natsu huffed and the air fluffed the wisps of hair that had fallen from her bun.

"Come on, tough guy." Lucy wrapped her arm behind Natsu's back as they exited the building and headed to the car. He draped an arm across her shoulder and she snuggled into his warmth. "Let's get some meds in you and get you to bed."

"I'm sorry I ruined Valentine's Day," Natsu apologized again as he held the car door open for Lucy before retreating to the passenger side once again.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" she chided once he'd buckled his seatbelt. "It doesn't matter what we do on Valentine's Day as long as we're together."

"I know," he admitted with a sheepish grin that was entirely too lopsided. The car was silent as they drove the rest of the way back to Lucy's apartment. The two walked up the flight of stairs, hands laced together

Stopping at the threshold, Natsu confessed with a nervous blush that tinged his ears a rosy pink, "I just want to give you a romantic night that you wouldn't forget."

"Trust me Natsu," she chuckled as she fitted the key into the lock. "I don't think either of us will be forgetting for a long time. I don't plan on letting you live it down anytime soon."

"Aw Luce," he whined, kicking the door closed behind them as they entered the apartment.

The stale smell of half burnt candles mixed with that of roses. They'd need to clean the apartment, but for now, both of them were much too tired even contemplate it.

"Don't 'Aw Luce' me," she said, wandering into the kitchen, white paper bag filled with medicine in one hand. Natsu could tell by way she said it that she would make good on her promise and there would be no arguing with her.

Natsu leaned against the doorframe, watching her while she attempted to put together a quick easily chewable meal for the two of them. The doctor told them that the anesthetic would only last a couple hours at best and that the pain would return. The painkillers especially needed to be taken with food lest he find himself in a helpless puddle of vomit. At some point he lost interest in just watching, and he moved to help speed the process along. Lucy however would have none of that and shooed him away, handing him a glass of water and the first of the many pills he needed to take on his way out of the kitchen and into the living room. On his way, he snagged a pair of sweats from her room and changed into them, leaving the bloodied clothes in the hamper. He'd been over often enough that Lucy kept a drawer of his clothes, even before they'd started dating

"But Luuusshiiiii I wanna help…" he groaned as he sat down on the couch, and then cupped his hand to his cheek. The pain had returned, less extreme than before, but Natsu knew it was a matter of time.

"Really now?" she inquired, one eyebrow raised as she joined him on the couch.

Lucy's blonde hair swayed from where she'd redone the messy bun into a ponytail and she'd changed into shorts and a thin tank top before joining him. She handed him the cup of instant noodles that finished microwaving a few minutes before and then plopped down next to him. As the couple ate Lucy recounted the whole terrible day, with Natsu making comforting noises in response as he listened. When they finished, she pulled a blanket off of the back and threw it over the two of them, burrowing into his side, content to just stay and leech the warmth from his body.

Past experience told Natsu that the medicine would make him sleepy, so he readjusted their position on the couch so that Lucy lay in front of him curled against his chest. Not for the first time, Natsu was grateful that the couch was wide enough to accommodate the two of them. His hands rubbed slow circles on the small of Lucy's back. Her breathing grew softer and Natsu knew it wouldn't be long before they both fell asleep.

"Luce?" he asked, his voice a low growl as he fought to keep the exhaustion at bay for a few extra moments. She hummed, letting him know she heard him. "I love ya, ya know that right?

Lucy looked at him. The tenderness in her eyes startled him, but in his drugged up state, all he could do was blink. She ran a hand through his hair, brushing the longer portions of his pink locks away from his eyes. Tracing her fingers lightly across his brow and down the side of his cheek, she stopped and placed her palm against his jaw, avoiding the cut.

"Yeah. I love you too."

She scooted up and pressed her forehead to his. Closing her eyes Lucy placed a chaste kiss to his lips and felt him wince.

"Ouch."

"Sorry! Sorry, sorry," Her eyes flew open as she realized what she'd done. She looked horrorstricken.

"'s ok," he chuckled. "Just next year… No roses."

"I think I can live with that."


End file.
